The Pup
by Nomad36
Summary: It's Halloween in Elmore, that means that there are parties, trick-or-treaters, and scares galour. But for a certain group of friends will they find something in the Forest of Doom that has a mischievous reputation?


**Hey everyone, I decided to do a Halloween spin-off for my story The Outsider, this takes place roughly one year after the events it. That being said let's hop right in!**

* * *

 **Outsider-Spinoff:**

The Pup

The sounds of Halloween resounded through Elmore as the streets bustled with life as trick-or-treaters went from house to house, intending to plunder a plentiful amount of candy from each household. As for a certain coyote, Halloween was a day he had been waiting for. Jake Wiley was still fumbling around with the fine details of his costume as he tried to put his room in order. Unfortunately Jake had agreed to his mother's terms stating that he had to clean his room first before he went trick-or-treating, leaving the coyote in a mad dash to get his room clean for the first time in a while. His class binders were piled in a forgotten corner of the room as he straightened out his sheets. The coyote found the small pile of electronic gizmos on the floor after almost trodding on one and placed them into a small bin and placing them quickly on one of his shelves.

 _'This is what I get for not planning ahead,'_ thought Jake as he grabbed his empty pillow case off his bed. The dusty brown coyote was anticipating the prospects of getting his favorite candies as he lifted his sack over his shoulder. He was covered in various bandages, his usually dusty brown fur was now a light tan color with a pale appearance. He thought his a Halloween costume of being an Egyptian mummy was quite accurate and a bit haunting as he wrapped the last of the bandages around his face, leaving a narrow slit for his eyes to see out of. He clomped downstairs to see his mom greeting another group of trick-or-treaters who were at the door.

"Well, you look quite spooky, it looks quite authentic," replied Brooke as she knelt down to get on eye level with her son.

"It took me a while to get the design right, but I like the way it turned out," said Jake adjusting the pale wrapping covering his body.

"Have fun Jake, and don't get into any trouble while you out there, speaking of which you should keep your friends out of trouble too, especially Grif.

The doorbell rang and this time it was Jake who was the first to answer it, the familiar faces of Grif, Kelsey, Gumball, Darwin, Penny, Carrie, and Rachel at the door different costumes, except for Carrie of course.

"Blimey! I didn't think so many of you were going to show up," said Jake smiling at all of them.

Grif's usual attire was now switched out in favor of a gunslinger outfit, complete with a poncho and a rather cool fake cigar, Kelsey was dressed differently in football pads and in a pink jersey with the number seventeen in white lettering on it. Gumball and Darwin were wearing their karate Gi outfits, and Darwin was as pale as his costume, Penny's costume was an angel, which was simple for her as she already had wings and finally Rachel was dressed as a witch.

"It's high noon!" said Grif, drawing out his toy revolver.

"It's seven p.m. Grif," said Kelsey, shaking her head as the griffin holstered the toy gun once again.

"Well, since we're all here, we still plan on hitting houses for candy and then going to the Halloween party?" said Jake walking down the steps to greet his wonderful friends.

"That's the plan Tut," said Grif pretending to take a puff of his cigar.

"Okay, then what are we waiting for?" said Kelsey brushing the hair out of her eyes.

"Let's go then," said Grif taking off at a brisk pace down the sidewalk. "So, do you think any other familiar faces will show up?"

"That depends, we might see Cato or maybe Ev," said Kelsey, refastening her pads.

* * *

The large group of friends proceeded towards the outskirts of the town, the blackness of night making it hard to distinguish anything. Their bags filled to the brim with goodies and sweets. It was so hard to see even Penny's bright colors seemed to be dimmed by the sea of darkness. The building they were looking at was an old Gothic house of sorts, several shingles were missing and it looked like it was in a state of decay. Demonic statues and gargoyles seemed to glower down at them, and Jake wasn't sure, but the very eyes of the statues seemed to follow him. Jake could tell he wasn't the only one who was uneasy about this. Grif looked like he thought the statues were x-raying him, and Kelsey had an uneasy grimace on her face as they approached the wrought iron gate, that seemed to creak open on its own accord.

"Well, this place sure is spooky," admitted Rachel shivering slightly.

"I know right, their eyes seem to follow you wherever you go," said Grif shifting from side to side to see the stone gargoyle's eyes lurk on him.

"Oh, will you knock it off Grif?" said Carrie shaking her head as the griffin instinctively hid behind the dusty brown coyote for protection.

"I can't really help you Grif if that thing goes after you," said Jake dryly.

"Wow, you're such a big help," snarled Grif as he yanked Kelsey towards him from the other side. "Hide me!"

"Is that Grif begging? I need to take a few moments to appreciate this," chuckled Gumball at the sight of the griffin shifting between hiding behind the fennec fox and the coyote.

Fortunately, the gargoyles soon faded into the mist as the drew closer to the house. Grif seemed the most on edge as Darwin reached for the knocker apprehensively giving it a few good taps before the wooden was pulled open by a rather wild looking pair of young boys.

"Chill costumes little dudes and gals, what's shakin'?" said the eldest boy pulling up his aviators to get a good look at them. "Do they look a little on the young side to you?"

The two other boys seemed to consider this for a moment before they exchanged looks. The one that looked like the oldest of the two spoke first.

"Nah, they seem like they're the right age."

They stepped aside letting the gang through over the threshold and onto a rather exquisite threadbare carpet. Their very footsteps seemed to kick up large puffs of dust from the carpet as they walked, causing all of their eyes to water, and Grif to coughed loudly.

The party looked pretty wild, there was a large punch bowl where various teens and young 'tweens' were gathered around it. The lights were flashing and Jake's mind flashed back to earlier days when he had attended the Fall Semi-formal with Kelsey and both of them grinned as their eyes met, it was clear that both of them were thinking about the same thing. And without warning, the fennec fox tugged the coyote off to the dance floor. Leaving both Rachel and Grif startled, as the others followed along or busied themselves with something else.

"Want to dance?" asked Rachel awkwardly to the griffin.

"No thanks, I'm not much of a dancer," replied Grif crossing his arms and giving his authentic western thousand yard stare.

"I heard you have got a fiery passion for dancing," said Rachel perplexed as Grif snorted with laughter.

"Only when my girlfriend accidentally sets me ablaze," said Grif, fixing his hat as he watched the others.

"Oh, alright then, maybe you should be a little more footloose, though," suggested Rachel helpfully as the griffin slid over to the punchbowl hoping for some sign of Jake as well.

"Jake, can I have a word?" said Grif tapping the coyote who shrugged and followed the griffin towards an empty section of the hall.

"What's on your mind Grif?"

"Well, I was thinking about going somewhere just as spooky to show I'm not afraid of anything that might look a little spooky," answered Grif, giving a sharp look in Gumball's direction.

"I'm not sure that's such a bright idea, it is Halloween night after all," said Jake cautiously as the griffin gunslinger gave him an incredulous look.

"Come on, it's not that far away, besides it'll only be a short detour from the party," replied Grif, already stepping out the door.

"Uh, I might as well follow him," sighed the coyote as he followed the griffin through the thick mist towards an outcropping of trees. "The Forest of Doom?"

* * *

The thick layer of tree cover made it impossible to discern anything that wasn't a few feet in front of them, and the forest was unnaturally quiet despite the hour. The knarled roots made it easy to stumble and their costumes didn't exactly aid in their walk through the wood as it was now easier for them to catch their costumes on brambles or get tangled up in thorns. The griffin looked particularly annoyed at the fact, who's poncho kept getting snagged on the prickly thorns. Jake was weary, and his feet felt particularly heavy as he trooped after Grif who had come into a large clearing with a deep burrow of sorts causing both the coyote and the griffin to stop in their tracks. Jake tuned his ears for any sounds, and he thought he could here faint clicking coming from the burrow.

"You know, this is literally one of the worst ideas you've ever had Jake," said Grif folding his arms as the coyote shot him a dirty look.

"My fault, this little field trip, was not my idea!" said Jake infuriated.

"Well you didn't stop me for some reason!" snapped Grif, causing Jake to roll his eyes.

"That's your fault for not stopping!" Jake shouted back.

But something made both of them stop as the looked down into the large burrow, Jake saw something moving out of the trench, its long hairy spindly legs reaching out of it feeling the earth beneath it as it crawled its way out of its den. It was a tarantula massive in size, its shimmering red eyes looking towards them as if they would make a tasty snack.

"Can we panic now?" said Grif in a small voice as they backed away from the gargantuan spider that made its way over to them with surprising nimbleness, it powerful legs pulling its fat body towards its helpless prey.

"I'd say it's a safe time to do so," said Jake, his mouth dry as he looked at the ugly spider which was starting to move faster and faster towards them. "Run!"

Both Jake and Grif ran as fast as the could, ducking underneath the low lying branches along the path as they made their way towards the entrance to the forest. Jake slipped underneath the wet dirt and he felt his head collide painfully with a large root, it took the coyote a few moments to get his bearings and get off the ground. Grif was nowhere to be seen as he saw the hairy body of the spider scuttling towards him and the coyote set off at a sprint, looking fearfully at the giant spider behind him before he felt his body hit something thick and stick. It took him a second, but he realized it was webbing. He was trapped. He tried to cut his way through the web, but the thick cords only seemed to spring up and down, not break. The coyote was doomed as the spider encroached, clicking its pincers and with a hungry look in its eyes. The coyote could feel its foul breath on the air as it was inches from him. Something made it stop. Some other creature, large and powerful was biting into the spider's rear leg and tugging it backward, away from Jake.

The beast was roughly the shape of a wolf, but larger, with strange gray fur and blue eyes, and powerful teeth. The spider shrieked with horror at the sight of the wolf-like creature and tried to sink its pincers into the wolf's hide. The beast was quicker, hopping out of the way still tugging on the spider's leg causing it to topple over clumsily and the beast jumped on top of the spider's body with the gnashing of teeth and its powerful paws to bat at the large spider. Jake looked as the spider scuttled off as quickly as it had came back to the clearing. The beast then turned its attention to the coyote strung up in the web as it looked at him with a curiosity he had not seen in any animal. Then without warning the wolf snapped out, tearing the web to pieces and started rolling around in the webbing like it was some sort of interesting chew toy as the coyote, now free, started walking away. The snap of a twig alerted the wolf that the coyote was walking away and the beast's black striped ears perked up at the sound.

Jake for a moment considered running as the creature examined him taking several large sniffs, as he prodded the coyote with his rounded snout. Apparently, the smell of the coyote wasn't a pleasant one for the creature as he snarled at him. Jake tried to find the voice to call out to Grif, but the words eluded him. The beast then bowled him over as it sprinted at him knocking him off his feet. The coyote attempted to get up, but the beast knocked him over, its tail wagging happily. This was some amusing game for the wolf as when Jake tried to move, the wolf placed one of its massive paws on top of the coyote preventing him from getting up.

Out of nowhere, he saw Grif stumbling to the spot where Jake was laying. His expression reading that of shock as he walked over to the large wolf-like beast. The beast seemed to notice him at once hopping off of Jake and onto the griffin, who yelped in horror before being tackled by the large beast.

"Get him off me!" said Grif desperately as the wolf licked his face repeatedly leaving slobbery goo all over the griffin and his clothes.

The coyote tried steering the large wolf away, but he was heavy and wouldn't budge. Then with a bright idea Jake tried scratching behind the wolf's ears and he seemed to back off slightly in responses yawning widely and rearing back his massive head. Jake noticed that upon contact with his paw the wolf's fur the color of the beast had changed to the same dusty brown fur that he possesses.

"Weird, that must be some camouflage mechanism," said Jake patting the yawning wolf with his paw.

"What happened to the spider? Did this big fella chase him off?" asked Grif looking for any lurking sign of the spider.

"He sure did, he must have followed it, for a creature from the Forest of Doom he sure seems quite friendly," said Jake patting the wolf on the head, causing it to let out an enthusiastic bark.

"Well, we best be off and part ways with Sparky over here," said Grif pointing to the wolf who growled at the use of the name.

"How about we call him Shades?" said Jake stepping away as the wolf wagging his tail eagerly whacking the coyote several times in the face with it.

"Okay, Shades it is, go on Shades, it's time for you to go," said Grif trying to shoo the large beast away. This worked out poorly as Shades misinterpreted this, instead choosing to playfully naw on Grif's arm instead leaving drool all over it.

"I don't think he's listening," said Jake chuckling as the wolf tried nipping at the griffin's wings next.

"Hey, cut it out!" replied Grif annoyed at Shade's behavior. Fortunately they managed to calm the excited wolf down and the coyote and Grif then proceeded out of the forest, double checking, to make sure there was no sign of the wolf-like creature following them.

* * *

By the time they had returned to the house the party sounded like it was dying down as the coyote and griffin walked up the front steps and entering back into the party, the atmosphere was quieter, and Jake looked around for Kelsey before heading towards the punch bowl. The house was still filled with random conversation. Though there was now a random teen complaining how someone had walked into him causing him to spill his drink. Jake rolled his eyes as he went back to pouring himself a cup of punch with Grif at his side.

"Not quiet as lively of a party as the ones you're accustomed to, am I right Grif?" said Jake leaning on the table as Grif took a swig of punch before spitting it out and giving it a disgusted look.

"I could always drop the chandelier to live things up," replied Grif, wiping his mouth off on the back of his sleeve.

"That sounds like your style," said Jake crossing his arms, as Grif swirled his punch around in his cup before pouring it into a potted plant, which caused its once vibrant green leaves to wither an die.

"What's in this stuff?" muttered Grif contemptuously as he crunched up his plastic cup and tossed it in the waste basket.

"So, what now partner? Duel at noon or something?" said Jake finally undoing the wrappings around his arms and neck as it was getting stiflingly hot, even by the coyote's standards.

"Be sure to where a metal plate underneath those wrappings of yours, or you'll be down for the count."

The two friends just leaned against the table taking in the sights of other people dancing and enjoying the moment together as they spat out the sickeningly distasteful punch.

"Eugh, are they deluding it with dish soap or something?" said Grif hiccuping up bubbles.

"You were the one who grabbed a second cup," said Jake shrugging.

"Yeah, I was thinking they actually improved the quality of the drink with this new batch, but it turns out it's worse than the previous one," said Grif still wretching at the taste.

However something seemed off about the part, Grif noticed a shadowy shape approaching them and nudging into them and letting out a loud bark, stirring many of the partygoers out of whatever they were doing.

"Shades, shoo!" hissed Jake trying to move the beast down the hallway and out of the scene where everyone was concentrated.

"Jake?" said a familiar voice and the coyote turned around to see Kelsey looking at him, an awkward expression on her face.

"Oh, hey Kelsey, quite the party we've got going on here," said Jake forcing the large beast behind him as it pawed at the back of the coyote's legs and tried to bound around him to greet the fennec fox.

"Yeah, it is quite nice," said Kelsey brushing her hair out of her eyes. "You wouldn't know wear Rachel's cellphone is by any chance, she seemed to have misplaced it."

Jake cringed as he heard the sound of a cellphone chime rumble from the depths of Shades stomach. To make matters worse, the wolf bit down on Jake's arm as he was fed up with the coyote blocking his path to get away. Jake suppressed a yelp of pain at this though his face started turning bright red as his armed throbbed with pain.

"If you'll excuse me, I've got to get a glass of water," said Jake hoarsely as he led Shades towards the kitchen before the wolf acted of its own accord, yanking the coyote with him as he charged into the kitchen knocking through the double doors and clattering through pots and pans as he scooted around the kitchen with the utmost enjoyment as the coyote rubbed his sore forearm.

"This thing is a handful," said Jake still rubbing his arm.

"Trouble?" asked Grif popping into the room as Shades continued to bound around, upsetting the natural order of the kitchen.

"Oh yeah," said Jake finally letting go of his arm as Shade found his way over to the two boys before coughing up Rachel's cellphone and nudging it over to them, patting his tail on the floor.

"Ugh!" said Grif picking up the cellphone as if it was something contaminated as he cleaned it off. "I'm sure whoever owns this won't want it back, it's disgusting."

"It belongs to Rachel, Kelsey was asking around if anyone had seen it," replied Jake taking the phone from Grif using his heavily cover hand to take it from the griffin who was still wiping the slimy goo off on his pants.

"Uh, where's Shades?" asked Grif interrupting the coyote's train of thought as he rushed back out into the party. The wolf-like creature was licking the punch off the floor from the tipped over punch bowl and people were fleeing the house in horror at the sight of the large dog.

Jake immediate went over and tried to tug him away, but Shades was once again unresponsive, simply knocking the coyote over with a swift stroke of his paw.

"We're going to have to tackle him together," said Grif bracing himself for the worst as Jake nodded and they seized the wolf-like creature by the tail pulling it backward all the while the wolf fought back swinging his tail back and forth and sending Grif and Jake flying in opposite directions. Jake didn't know how this would stop as he clambered up from the ruins of a wooden table clutching his back, while Grif pulled himself from the wall which had left an imprint of the griffin.

"Come on Shades work with us!" said Jake annoyed, but something else had caught the wolf's attention as a low howl pierce the night air and Shades bounded off after it leaving both Jake and Grif in shock and hurrying to catch up with him.

* * *

Of course, they weren't prepared to see a wolf about one and a half times bigger than Shades glowering down at them as it sniffed them curiously. It was now obvious to see that Shades was a mere juvenile in comparison to the larger stature of what had to be the mother which had a younger pup following her. Her leg was heavily scarred and she moved gingerly towards them, her hot breath blowing towards their faces before growling at Shades and pulling him by the scruff of the neck, before depositing him at her side before setting off into the wood. Jake could swear that Shades gave one last backward looked before trotting after his mother.

"All well that ends well," said Grif convinced as he turned around and started walking away before the coyote joined him.

"Let's never speak of that to anyone again," said Jake firmly as Grif nodded. Just as they were walking away from the house something caught Jake by the ear and Grif by the hat and tugged them backward. They were greeted by a certain wolverine, still dressed in his Halloween hockey player outfit.

"Care to explain?" said Randal, pointing at the disorderly state of the party house.

"Well..."

* * *

 **That's a wrap on the spin-off. I'll probably have another holiday oriented one out at Christmas time. If you want to check out my main story The Outsider you can find it on my profile and I tend to have a new chapter up every week and you can check it out if you want to get a better idea of some of the characters and such. In the meantime stay cool and hang loose! Nomad going silent.**

 **Nomad's Notes:**

 **-It was honestly a bit refreshing to take a break from The Outsider and focus on something different for a change, overall it was a great refresher.**

 **-I once again put in some references, one that I'm particularly proud of (you'll know it when you see it. XD )**

 **-Grif does, in fact, have a girlfriend, and the character is owned by another user, so I decided to put a little reference in this spin-off to her. ;)**

 **-I decided to save Randal's appearance until last, as I figured you should at see him.**


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